Buried trees and timeline: Quite a difference between prehistoric and Jurassic. I am assuming the dock was along the Thames which would alter course over time through flooding and silting. No way would a petrified nut be crackable.

Sam and his usage of the word “merrily”. Has he used it or synonyms so much as in this plague time? He seems absurdly enjoying near all the time. Except for a few beautifully reflective death summations which are hardly... Well compare J.Evelyn’s somber renderings quoted above with all the statistically moaning. I am respectful of the statistics yet here we all are dancing with Sam at the edge of his abyss!

I would think sugar production would be somewhere in this mix. Wikipedia states that Barbados was still mostly white in 1650. Whereas by 1680 a median size sugar plantation had 60 slaves this moves to 250 slaves by the 1832.